Young Lightning
by Spin-Firestorm
Summary: A speedster centric fic set in the JLU timeline.  Central city is sad with Wally spending so much time on missions for the JLU, but gets more than it wished for when new blood joins the race. Jay will also appear as the Flash of Keystone.


**JLU TAS: Young Lightning by Spin**

**Summary**:  
A speedster centric fic set in the JLU timeline. Central city is sad with Wally spending so much time on missions for the JLU, but gets more than it wished for when new blood joins the race. Jay will also appear as the Flash of Keystone.

**Primary Disclaimer for the entirety of this story:**  
The only thing that is mine is the warped story idea, everything else belongs to DC comics, Warner Brothers or whoever. No money is being made, nor is any offence intended by this work of fan-fiction, it is written simply for entertainment purposes. Please don't sue.

**Notes for the reader (**I dont think ff . net likes these being in a separate chapter so you'll just have to wade through them all, sorry:  
Okay I hade only seen about five episodes of Justice League Unlimited when I startec this, I am still waiting for them to be released on DVD in the UK; so my apologies if this doesn't follow the pre-laid contingency, though it might be best to think of this as an AU anyway. It is set some time in the JLU universe after the comic where we meet the original Flash 'Jay Garrick'.

I have neither any experience nor know nothing about how adoption systems, etc work in the US or anywhere else for that matter, so I'll do my best to avoid any details. Like wise with homelessness. If something is written in this story that is so completely wrong it offends you, please contact me explaining the problem as fully as you can and I will endeavour to fix the problem.

Now here are some things I should clear up before I start. Firstly my take on Barry Allen in the JLU universe for the purposes of this story: He was never the Flash. Secondly Wally was never 'Kid Flash'. My reasoning is as follows: not only has neither been mentioned in the cartoon series (I think I read somewhere that there's an ep where we see the Kid Flash's uniform but I haven't seen that ep) but, in the episode 'The Brave and the Bold' when Wally is hallucinating we see an adult not a child standing in front of the chemicals when lightning strikes. Also, if I recall correctly, in the previously mentioned comic, Wally told the kids Jay had inspired him to become the Flash; presumably in a similar way to how Barry was inspired in the normal DC universe. Consequently, no BarryFlash means no Tornado Twins which in turn means no Impulse.

So there are only two Flashes Jay and Wally. This leaves the slate clean for my own manipulations in this universe, though I intend to use some of my favourite ideas from the various series; I will endeavour to list these at the end of the first chapter they are used in. Credit where credit is due after all ;)

Key:  
"Speech"  
'_Thoughts_'  
**-Sounds-**  
//Dream\\  
_>>Location if required_

* * *

**Intro:**

_>>Central City Orphanage_

"SIMON?!" An elderly woman calls while stumbling down the long white corridor, a basket of dirty sheets in her arms.

"Easy there, Mary." A slightly balding man pokes his head around a doorframe, and regards the struggling woman with an amused look. "You're going to give your self a hernia." He jests, steps up to her and relieves her of half her load.

"But they'll be here soon!" She exclaims while continuing down the corridor. "I've gotten clean sheets on all the girls beds..."

"And I've done the boy's." He reassures her, while falling into step beside her with his own load.

"And the grocery supplier's been told about the change in our regular order, extra soap's in all the toilets, cooks getting the extra meals prepared..." Placing his hand on her shoulder, Simon stops her panicked rant.

"Mary, it's okay, you've gotten everything ready for their arrival."

"But we've never had so many arrive at one time before." She continues to fret.

"It's just a few extra kids, for a few weeks, while Blue Valley's Orphanage gets renovated. Now take deep breaths and calm down." He smiles at her, reassuringly, "Everything going to be just fine."

* * *

// 

It is a warm sunny day in Central City; yet despite there not being a cloud in the sky, lightning runs along the city streets. Unlike storm lightning this is a mix of bright red and golden yellow, which does not strike any of the buildings it passes. It navigates the city with ease, like a ferret in a well-practiced and much loved maze, causing no damage to the city at all. Slowing down and speeding up, yet seaming to never stop nor tired of its private game.

The city itself almost seams to glow with glee at the lightning's presence, silently cheering the playful lightning on. Laughing at the patterns made from the loops, twists and turns through the complex industrial areas. Gaping at the lightning's raw speed down the straighter main roads, like watching a favourite child at play. The game continues for what may be hours, days, months, or years, time seams to have lost its meaning as the lightning runs on.

The without warning a beeping is heard, like chimes of dread and the lightning stops where it is in the street. The city holds its breath and waits an eternity, before the cheerful red and yellow lightning shoots into the sky and away from the city that loves it so much. The streets darken as the city sulks over the departure of its child once more. Although the city is home to many thousands more, none seam able to fill the void left by the cheerful red and yellow lightning.  
\\

"FLASH!!!"

"Uh?" Startled from his dose, the scarlet speedster quickly catches and rights the knocked coffee cup, that's about to spill its contents over the Watchtower's dinning area floor. "Sorry, GL. What's up?"

"You where a sleep." The resident Lantern accuses, in that harsh military tone of his. "What's wrong with you?"

"Spending too much time at night clubs, I'll bet." Adds the emerald archer from a neighbouring table.

**-Sigh-** '_Why do you always assume I spend all my time goofing off?'_ Seeing the board look on the other man's face, Flash just shrugs and replies. "Just some weird dreams."

"Well have them at home, not when we've got work to do." Suiting actions to words, the dark man stood and practically marches towards the elevator.

**-Chuckle- **"Maybe you should cut out the peanut butter sandwiches before going to bed, kid. Else your baby sitter might get really peed."

"Oh, Ha Ha." Drowning the now cold coffee, in under a second, the fastest man alive took off after his departing teammate, leaving Green Arrow laughing at his own joke.

* * *

_>>A bus heading to Central City_

"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, all day long..."

'_Sure that's why we're stuck in this traffic jam._' Silently Bart groans at the never-ending onslaught of cheerful travelling songs. _'How could they be so cheerful? We are all getting moved from one prison for unwanted kids to another. Then when the state has spent the compulsory amount required, we'll all be getting shipped back again.'_

"The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep..."

_'You mean the horns of the angry drivers.' _A car violently forces its way in front of another one, just a bit ahead of the coach he was sitting in, when it didn't immediately pull forward into a slowly growing gap in traffic. _'Especially when someone cuts you up like that.'_

"The bell on the bus goes ding, ding, ding..."

_'Do you lot really believe the lies the social workers tell you? Is that how you can be so cheerful?'_ **-Sigh- **_'The whole reason kids get sent to orphanages is because nobody wants them, nobody cares... no one alive anyway.'_

"The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish..."

_'It's not rain-ning!'_ Rolling his eye's the brunette rests his head against the cool glass window. _'Well at least I can look out side.'_ Someone steps out of a red car in the middle lane and storms around to a black one in the offside lane. '_What do you know live entertainment?'_

"The ladies on the bus go natter, natter, natter..." A second man gets out of the black car to intercept the first. The glass and distance stop Bart from hearing what's being said by either man, but their gestures make their meaning clear - they are both very angry with each other.

"The men on the bus go grump, grump, grump..."

_'But the men off the bus go...' _The fist man lunges at the second, only to receive a blow to the face for his trouble. Soon they're wrestling on the ground between cars.

"The children on the bus go fuss, fuss, fuss..." Some more people get out of their own vehicles and try to split the two men up, it doesn't go well.

**-Sigh- **_'Grandpa could of split them up faster than this, without joining in with their fight.'_

"The babies on the bus go wa, wa, wa..."

_'So dose that guy who just got a broken nose.' _Bart winces as the fight escalates with a man being thrown through a windscreen. _'Someone had better call an ambulance to see to the people in that car; through how they'll get through this jam to help is another matter.'_

"The mothers on the bus go shhh, shhh, shhh..."

_'So why don't you listen to them?'_

"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, all day long..."

_'Will you ever shut up?'_

* * *

_**Intro. End Notes:**_

_Blue Valley was the town Wally West lived in while Kid Flash in the main DC comics_

_In the Mister Miracle Episode Wally and Ralph - The Elongated man - gripe to each other about how the rest of the league view each of them. In Wally's case it's like an immature sidekick despite being one of the original seven, so I'm trying to show this a bit._

_'Peanut butter sandwiches' are what I believe where quoted as Supergirl's night-time snack in the episode where she was having those bad dreams, which turned out to be memories from her clone._

_You will most likely know that, in the main DC universe, Bart Allen was the 3rd Kid Flash and a member of the Teen Titans; then he got aged and became the 4th Flash and now they've killed him off to bring Wally back. He was originally the junior hero known as Impulse, but changed his name when he decided it was time for himself to 'Grow-up'. Originally from the 30th Century, he is Barry Allen's grandson - though they never met, and a cousin of sorts to Wally. Before anyone starts saying they should be cousins in this story as well, I would like to point out that Iris, wife of Barry, was adopted by the Wests as a baby - unknowingly from the future herself- and thus not a blood relative of Wally's, and that's before we get into the whole body switching thing. The West/Allen/Thawne family is a bit confusing and not actually needed for this story, so I wont try to explain it further here._

_As for 'Wheels-on-the-bus' it's a children's rhyme which I've probably miss quoted, but I've heard so many variations of it I don't think it matters too much._


End file.
